The Economist on ‘The Promise’ purpose & box office performance

.The Armenian Genocide movie ‘The Promise’ wasn’t made to be a box office success, its purpose is shedding light on the historical reality which is often ignored, the Economist reported.

“A sweeping historical drama about a national tragedy, it is the sort of movie that Hollywood used to love. But for more than a century, writers and studios have turned their faces away from the story”, the Economist says on The Promise – starring Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon and others.

The film’s production was financed by the late Armenian-American billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who founded Survival Pictures, with the purpose of educating the world on the Armenian Genocide. Kerkorian invested 100 million dollars in the movie.

In its opening weekend it grossed only $4.1m, a historically low amount for a film that cost $100m to make.

Insiders speculate that it could gross around $20m worldwide, which by most accounts would make “The Promise” a total failure, in terms of box office success. “But “The Promise” cannot be judged in purely economic terms, as Kerkorian had little interest in making back his investment. Perhaps we should not judge it on purely artistic terms either.

“The Promise” doesn’t seek to break ground: it was created in order to shine light on an oft-ignored historical event, and even with mediocre reviews and middling boxoffice figures it is achieving that aim. One day, if the history of the Armenian genocide is officially re-written, “The Promise” will have played a part”, the Economist said.